


Game Night

by BombshellKell



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-19
Updated: 2013-08-19
Packaged: 2017-12-24 00:03:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/932672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BombshellKell/pseuds/BombshellKell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To keep them all together and maintain some semblance of a social life within the group, Tendo arranges a trivia game night for the Hong Kong shatterdome survivors. Hermann and Newt are team captains, but they soon discover that the trivia game is bringing out the worst in them and may be sabotaging their growing relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Game Night

**Author's Note:**

> Request from Tumblr user tegeues: "after the war, the remaining gang organizes trivia nights for fun, and newt and hermann always end up on opposing teams. as these nights progress, they try more and more desperately to tie with each other so that neither one wins, and mako sees it obviously that they’re involved."
> 
> I hope you like it! I think I veered off a little bit but I sure as hell had fun writing it.

To: Raleigh Becket (becketbro2@yahoo.com) Mako Mori (mori.m@ppdc.gov) Hercules Hansen (hansen.h@ppdc.gov) Newton Geiszler (bluebloodnewt@gmail.com) Hermann Gottlieb (gottlieb.h@ppdc.gov)  
From: Tendo Choi (choitoy@gmail.com)  
Subject: Hong Kong Shatterdome Gaming and Bullshitting Night

First of all, most of you guys really need to get personal email addresses. It just feels silly sending this to your official ones. 

Getting to the point, you probably forgot, or were trying to, but in order to try and keep us all busy and together now that the war’s been over two years, we’re going to start having unofficial gaming, bullshitting, and (most importantly) drinking nights. We’ll be gathering at my place this Friday at six. I’ve taken the liberty of buying a buzzer system for the occasion, so you’d better all show up. 

The sort of gaming we’ll be doing is a cool little Jeopardy app I got on my tablet which we’re going to project into my holographic model program to enlarge it. It should be pretty damn fun, so don’t be late, and bring your own booze, cause you’re not drinking all of mine. 

We will be playing in teams. Our two brains will be the team captains, obviously. On Team Geiszler we have Mako and Herc. On Team Gottlieb we have Raleigh and myself. Everybody study up on everything you can think of and be ready by Friday.

See you soon!

Tendo

\- - - 

“Alright,” Alison Choi was saying from where she stood in front of the holographic game board, in the large sitting room of the Choi house. She and Tendo had set up two foldable tables in front of six kitchen chairs, making a makeshift game stage in front of the holographic game board. “Our categories are Monster Movies, American History, The Culinary Arts, Music of the 2010s, and... Classic Literature.” 

Hermann stared at the board. “There is nothing I could possibly know anything about on there.” 

“Well, that’s too bad!” Newt pointed at the board. “Monster Movies for a hundred, please.” 

As Alison asked the question, Hermann glared at Newt from across the room. The glare only intensified when he got the question correct, effortlessly cleaning out the category one question after another. By the time he chose another category, Hermann was seething, and both Tendo and Raleigh were looking at him with slightly alarmed expressions. 

“Uh...” Newt took too long to answer a question about Great Expectations and Hermann immediately slammed his hand onto the buzzer when time had run out. 

“Eighteen sixty-one,” he said smugly. It was, of course, correct, and Hermann saw Newt’s face fall, his eyebrows twitching as Alison moved onto the next question. 

By the end of the night, Team Gottlieb had won, and Raleigh and Tendo were jumping up to high-five one another behind the board. Mako shook her head and laughed as she and Raleigh left, and Tendo went up to give Alison a kiss before the two of them started packing up the equipment and putting the chairs back in the kitchen. Herc said goodbye to everyone and took off as well, until it was only Hermann and Newt left in the room. 

Hermann sighed. “At last.” He grabbed his cane and coat and started to leave before Tendo and Alison could make a reappearance. Newt grudgingly followed him.

“Hey, you’re the one that didn’t want them to see us leave together,” he said, his tone still aggravated as he pulled his jacket back on. “Maybe if you weren’t so paranoid we wouldn’t have had to sit around like morons til everyone else left.” 

“You can’t possibly be angry at me for winning,” Hermann said as they stepped outside, staring at Newt in disbelief. “The questions were all but triggered in your favor, with all those absurd music and monster movie categories... any reason for you not winning was purely your own fault.” 

“My own fault? My own fault? Oh yeah right. That’d just be perfect for you, just being right again, as always, while crazy Newt gets everything wrong. Well I saved the world, dude.” 

“With my help!”

“I could have done it alone!” Newt stood right in front of Hermann, his chest puffed out slightly, and Hermann prodded it to deflate him a bit. 

“...I don’t think we’ll be leaving together for long if this keeps up,” he said. 

Newt puckered his lips. “Yeah, no... definitely not. But we’re not gonna be able to keep from arguing as long as we’re doing this dumb game every week.” 

“And we have no choice as to coming for the game,” Hermann added. “Tendo would have our heads if we stayed home.” 

“So we’re just gonna be arguing forever! Great!” Newt groaned, yanking the car door open. Hermann thought about it for a moment, and suddenly, understanding dawned on his face. 

“We wouldn’t argue if, perhaps... the game was a tie.” 

Newt looked up at him. “Well, yeah, but the game’s not gonna be a tie all the time. Or any of the time, really.” 

Hermann smirked. “It can be if we play it right.” 

\- - - 

To: Raleigh Becket (becketbro2@yahoo.com) Mako Mori (mori.m@ppdc.gov) Hercules Hansen (hansen.h@ppdc.gov) Newton Geiszler (bluebloodnewt@gmail.com) Hermann Gottlieb (gottlieb.h@ppdc.gov)  
From: Tendo Choi (choitoy@gmail.com)  
Subject: First Game Night

Well, I’d say that was a success. Alison and I had a great time, and I would personally like to add how honored I feel to have been on the winning team of the first game. In other words, ha ha. 

There have been some complaints from Team Gottlieb about the categories being potentially rigged in Team Geiszler’s favor, even though that didn’t seem to help him much last night. We’ve taken the complaints into account and for next week’s game the categories will be personally selected by my son. He likes Batman, so I would start my reading there. 

See you next week. 

Tendo

\- - - 

“Erm... I would like... Favorite Foods, for four hundred, please, Alison,” Hermann said slowly, looking at the categories the three-year-old boy had come up with. Alison cleared her throat with a barely-suppressed smile and read from the card: 

“Macaroni is a type of pasta. What is the more common name for farfalle, a spiffy-looking decorative pasta?” 

It was bowtie pasta. Hermann saw them in the grocery store all the time. He and Newt exchanged a look, and Newt’s eyes flickered from him to the scoreboard. It was close. 

“...Corkscrew pasta,” Hermann said flatly, knowing how wrong he was and feeling immediately ashamed. How could this possibly be worth it? Was keeping his and Newt’s relationship free of turmoil really worth being so irredeemably and undeniably wrong? 

“Sorry, that’s wrong,” Alison said. “Team Geiszler?” 

“Bowtie pasta!” Newt said triumphantly, slapping the buzzer and keeping their teams tied. 

It went on like this for some time; with every passing category, both of them would let their teammates guess of their own free will, but whenever they’d start on a winning streak, Hermann or Newt would blurt out an answer that was wrong. 

“What is the capital of the state of Texas?” 

“Uh... Dallas.” 

“What is the name of Batman’s car?” 

“Erm... the Batcar... obviously.” 

“Which type of cloud is thin and wispy?” 

“C-Cumulus.” 

“And we’re ending the game with a tie!” Alison finally called, and both Hermann and Newt let out a sigh of relief. 

“I have to go,” Newt said immediately, grabbing his jacket and heading out the door, purposefully forcing Hermann to stay longer if he wanted to keep them a secret. Hermann allowed himself a small glare before turning to Mako, who had walked over to speak with him. 

“A tie, huh?” she said, with the smallest of smiles. “Some of those questions were very easy.” 

Hermann felt himself sweating. “I... suppose I simply wasn’t at the top of my game tonight,” he said.

“I guess so.” Mako’s smile widened a little. “Well, goodbye, Dr. Gottlieb. I will see you next week.” 

“Yes, I’ll see you... then...” Hermann trailed off as Mako went to follow Raleigh and Herc out of the sitting room. When he thought it was safe, he left as well, finding Newt waiting for him out in the car, lying down in the back seat so that no one would see him. Hermann got in on the passenger’s side, since it was Newt’s car, and threw his jacket back onto his face. “Oh, get up.” 

Newt sat up quickly and climbed his way into the front seat, stretching his arms out over the wheel before starting the car. “Well, that was... easier than I thought.” 

“I certainly hope you’re being sarcastic,” Hermann said, leaning his head back against the seat as they drove away from Tendo and Alison’s. “Because that was the most humiliating thing that’s ever happened to me.” 

“No, it’s not,” Newt said, and for a moment the two of them were silent, the lightheartedness ruined by the reminder that they knew far too much about one another. 

“Well, either way,” Hermann continued after the moment had passed. “I will not be doing it again.”

“We gotta,” Newt pointed out. “Or we’ll just keep arguing all the time. And we’re team captains. If we ask to be on the same team, they’re gonna know something’s up.” 

Hermann heaved a deep sigh. “This is much too complicated for a bloody game night.” 

“I’ll say.” 

\- - - 

To: Raleigh Becket (becketbro2@yahoo.com) Mako Mori (mori.m@ppdc.gov) Hercules Hansen (hansen.h@ppdc.gov)  
From: Tendo Choi (choitoy@gmail.com)  
Subject: Team Captains

I’m not including Newt or Hermann in this email since it concerns them.

There seems to be concern regarding our team captains no longer getting any of the questions right. For the last five game nights, we’ve finished with a perfect tie, and for the last three, each team captain has only gotten at most two questions correct. 

I know it seems out of character for them, but really, we all know what this is, right? None of us are as stupid as they think we are. Therefore, I’ve devised a little plan for this Friday’s game night. They won’t even know what’s coming. 

Meet me tomorrow here at six.

Tendo

\- - - 

“Uh...” Raleigh squinted up at the board when it was his turn. “I’ll take Famous Jaegers for two hundred.” 

“Got it.” Alison smiled, touching the category on the holograph with her finger and watching the question spring up. “This is an easy one. Which Jaeger was responsible for the defeat of the kaiju Hundun, in Manila, 2019 along with Gipsy Danger?” 

Raleigh knew this, Hermann thought automatically. This was an instant right answer for them, no questions asked. Which was why his mouth dropped open when Raleigh confidently said, “Romeo Blue.” 

Hermann immediately whipped around to face him. “You were there!” he hissed. “How can you not remember?” 

Raleigh gave him a blank look. “Oh. Guess it just slipped my mind. You know, it’s been a while. Kinda just forgot about it.” 

Across on the other table, Newt was laughing. Hermann wanted to slap him, but as soon as the questions went to his team, Herc answered a question wrong too. Then Tendo came back at them with a wrong answer, then Mako on the other side. It went on like this through the entire game, until Hermann and Newt looked at each other helplessly. 

“Er...” Hermann stuttered, staring up at the board. “I...” He wouldn’t be able to stand losing with no correct answers on the entire team. “...Basic Mathematics, for one thousand.” 

“Alright.” Alison tapped the category. “What is five times nine?” 

Forty-five, Hermann thought immediately, but when he looked over at Newt, he panicked. If he answered this correctly, his team would win, there would be no tie. But it was mathematics, and basic mathematics to boot, so he couldn’t possibly get it wrong. It wasn’t even that they would think he was stupid; if he got a question in this category wrong, they would know he was doing it on purpose. Their whole little game would be revealed. 

He could feel sweat on his forehead. He couldn’t pause for much longer, or they’d know then, too. Eventually, he flashed Newt the briefest of apologetic looks, and said, his voice strained, “...Forty-five.” 

“Team Gottlieb is our winner this week!” Alison said with a grin, clapping. Hermann saw Newt deflate, and sit down in his chair with a sigh. Hermann knew they couldn’t go on like this. 

“Wait!” he said, standing up and using the table for support. “I... I have something to say.” 

Every eye in the room turned to him, including Newt’s, which were accompanied with raised eyebrows. Hermann swallowed hard and continued. 

“Newton and I have been tying on purpose,” he said flatly. 

“No!” Tendo’s hand flew to his mouth, his voice dripping with sarcasm, which Hermann was too nervous to catch.

“We’ve been tying on purpose to prevent us from arguing, because...” 

“Dr. Gottlieb,” Mako said, standing up and walking around her team’s table, Newt’s face over her shoulder still slightly panicked and defensive. “...We know.” 

\- - - 

To: Newton Geiszler (bluebloodnewt@gmail.com)  
From: Hermann Gottlieb (gottlieb.h@ppdc.gov)  
Subject: Last Night

Forgive me for using such a vague subject. And forgive me for not telephoning you rather than emailing you, although I’m more than aware that you check your email far more than the messages on your phone, and I would like you to read this as soon as possible. 

As we discovered last night, we’ve been fooling absolutely no one. Mako has seen us arriving and leaving together since these ‘game nights’ began. She hardly misses anything, that girl. She’s always been like that, for as long as I’ve known her. She called me to speak to me this morning, and she suggested that I do this, although I’ve been thinking of doing it for a long while. She simply gave me the push that I needed. 

Newton, I think that we should live together. It would only make sense, considering how often you come home with me in the evenings. In my apartment, of course; I’ve seen what yours looks like and I will in no way be living there. 

I care about you a great deal. I think it’s time that I show it. 

I’m sure I’ll see you soon.

Hermann.


End file.
